


Kingdom for the Crown

by TheTartWitch



Series: Mass Transit/The Gathering of the Fandoms [3]
Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist, D. Gray-man, Naruto, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, xxxHoLic, 合法ドラッグ | Gouhou Drug | Legal Drug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Alternate Universe - Daemons, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Espionage, F/F, M/M, Mass Transit of Characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-23
Updated: 2015-09-24
Packaged: 2018-04-23 01:11:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4857533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTartWitch/pseuds/TheTartWitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Espionage/Huge Collection of Different Pairings/Daemon AU! Unbeta-ed, so feel free to volunteer!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sparrow

**Author's Note:**

> first chapter's short, but they get longer i swear.

_“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.”_ -Unknown

Prologue

He surveyed the buildings beneath him, hand clenched in his warm coat pocket and clutching his bow in his palm. His eyes kept darting to a single building to his left, a tall building made of a mixture of bricks and black stone. The front door slid slowly open and he watched half-heartedly for a few moments, waiting for the signal to take aim and let go. Nothing came until the tenant, a middle-aged man with a short beard and spectacles tapping along in pointy-toed shoes and a formal jacket, finally made it to the sidewalk outside, stumbling along beside his anteater daemon.

“ **Go.** ” Crackled through his headset, sharp and precise, and he drew back the string and breathed out slow. He watched the portly man walk unsteadily until he was sure he had the target locked.

The man ducked into a side alley, quicker than he’d been pretending to walk. He cussed, releasing the string with a murmured “ _Блядь_!” A miss. A miss on his perfect record. What would the punishment for this be?

“ **Sparrow, pull back! He’s got reinforcements!** ” Sparrow paused, one finger tapping his earpiece as static began to fuzz throughout the connection. Odd. They never got interference- unless-

A face, peering out of the alley. Black eyes, equally dark hair. A foreigner. Probably from some foreign protection agency. “ _Baw adar yn_!” He murmured, only then noticing his own daemon’s absence. He was often quiet during jobs; it wouldn’t do to be noticed by a target and blow the whole thing or potentially become a target himself.

Sparrow turned. “Nelet?” A muffled squeal met his ears and he paused as his eyes locked with a tall man who could have been the other foreigners’ brother, there was such resemblance. Nelet was being caged in the man’s daemon’s (a serval) mouth, whimpering softly. Now that he wasn’t focused on the hunt, he could feel the terror trembling down the bond.

“Sparrow!” Nelet wailed, tiny hooves bucking as he attempted to prance. Sparrow stood with a sudden rush, eyes staring straight into the other man’s. “Eeeee!”

“ _Oтпустить_!” Sparrow snarled, motioning towards his daemon with an impatient flick of his fingers. The man smiled grimly, and despite himself Sparrow’s shoulders trembled. The man drew a sword with a quiet rasp of steel on steel and Sparrow tensed. He couldn’t get far – not with Nelet captured, but he was quite fast. He could dodge proficiently.

“ ** _Teishi! Wareware wa kare no soshiki ni tsuite no jōhō ga hitsuyō ni narimasu. Kare o kyapucha shimasu._** ” The man's pocket buzzed insistently, but he didn't so much as glance down. Sparrow twisted, fingers finding an arrow and nocking it. He aimed for the opponent's head, eyes narrowing in thought.

“ ** _Sparrow, os i chi tân Rwy'n gadael i chi yno. Nid ydym yn gwybod unrhyw beth am iddynt._** ” Sparrow's fingers trembled but he pulled the string back smoothly, attempting to ignore his superiors' warning. His eyes locked with Nelet's; he saw his own pain reflected there. The pain of losing his family in favor of saving his own life, if he had to.

“Don't.” The man finally spoke and Sparrow flinched in shock, allowing the man a single second of less-than-hyper vigilance. In less than a second, the man had stepped inside Sparrow's circle of safety and rested a hand on his ribs, in the perfect place to stab up. Sparrow's wide blue eyes stared up into the man's rich red irises. “You don't want to fire anyway. They just threatened you, didn't they? You don't have to do what they say anymore. Why not come work for us?”

Sparrow's eyes met Nelet's. “ ** _Yr wyf yn peryglu._** ” Nelet's eyes widened and he stopped cantering. “ ** _Ni fyddwn yn gadael y lleill ei ben ei hun yno . Gallwn gael nhw allan hefyd!_** ”

Sparrow smiled as he carefully set his bow down beside him and held his hands high in the air. The man smiled grimly as he pushed his lanky hair out of the way and handcuffed him to himself. His serval released Nelet and Sparrow sighed in relief, hoisting the tiny mouse-deer onto his shoulder.

“By the way, I'm Tyki. This is Mona, my daemon.” She dipped her head to Nelet, who did the same in return.

“Sparrow. This is Nelet.” They dipped their heads in unison.

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Shards of Glass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bunny is also captured, a sniper fails at their job, and Sparrow is painfully reminded of his past.

_“Far from what I once was, but not yet what I’m going to be.” –Unknown_

** One **

Sparrow was led down the stairs (thankfully Tyki had grabbed his bow from the floor to bring along) and handed over to another agent, handled gently because he’d given himself up willingly. If Tyki understood what he’d said on the roof, he said nothing of it to the others in Sparrow’s earshot. Sparrow was taken to a car with a short brown-haired man and a taller-but-still-short woman with long black pigtails. They looked unusually good on the grown woman. When he was dumped in the backseat and the car began to pull away, he flopped over sideways and promptly fell asleep. It had been a long enough day, and he didn’t want to be tired wherever they took him after this.

(0)

“ ** _Diabhal é!_** ” Bunny cussed, stomping his foot on the ground as he watched Sparrow practically hop into the enemy’s car. “What in hell does he think he’s doing?!” He snarled, swinging his hammer up onto his shoulder habitually. His daemon, Dí, snorted nearby. Her tail flicked from side to side as she considered the situation. “You don’t think he’s -?”

“Defecting?” The puff of hot air over his ear was their only warning before a hand flicked around Bunny’s neck, loosely clutching a cigarette. Bunny flinched back into a strong body, mind split halfway between his own body and Dí’s as she struggled with a larger cat daemon. He cried out angrily as she was pinned down and a quick hand stealthily slipped his hammer out of his hand. “Now, now, don’t get too angry with him. He was trying to help someone, I believe. His daemon is rather adorable, isn’t it? A mouse-deer. How oddly-suited for an assassin, is it not?”

Bunny stilled. _Help someone? Who?_ “What are your affiliations with Sparrow?” The man’s daemon licked Dí’s belly affectionately, though the effect was ruined by the sensation of sharp claws digging into Dí’s fur.

“Mona.” The man said chastisingly as he pulled Bunny closer. “So that’s Sparrow? Who are you, then? Swan?” Bunny hissed at him angrily. He hadn’t missed the evasion.

“Bunny.” Bunny ducked out of the man’s arms and teetered on the edge of the roof, considering the surroundings. If any other agents saw this situation…there. A red glint, peering belligerently from the window of an apartment building: a laser sight. The sight fixed on Dí’s head, and the larger daemon stared at it; confused, considering, and then realization struck as a warning bullet dug into the ground right beside Dí’s neck. The cat leaped away, landing beside her human as Dí scrambled to Bunny’s feet.

“Sorry about that,” The man said softly, almost cooing, “but now that they’ve marked you as a traitor, you can just come with us!” Bunny stared at him, open-mouthed, but didn’t get the chance to rebuke him before he felt woozy and found himself peering at the ground through the gap of an elbow. The man hoisted him up onto his shoulders, his daemon grabbed a staggering Dí by her scruff, and off they went, into the stairs. The last thing Bunny remembered was a slight sting from a wound on his neck and the entire world going black.

(0)

Moth let himself drop the rifle with a sad sigh. There was no way he wouldn’t get punished for this: losing two agents on one low-level mission? They’d find all the remaining agents on their level and ‘question’ them mercilessly.

His weasel daemon, Rem, was perched on the ledge beside him watching the drama unfold. Her tail quivered. “What if they send Bear?” She murmured, paws tucked up to her chest in agitation.

“Don’t worry about it.” Moth urged, hastily packing up his equipment and slipping stealthily down the stairs and out onto the street to mingle with the civilians traversing the sidewalks. “He’d have to find us first, wouldn’t he?” Rem giggled as they blended into the crowd and watched a team of men storm the building they’d occupied moments before in a rush. “And no one’s _ever_ found us when we don’t want to be found.”

Moth turned up his hood and walked away, with Rem padding along beside him.

(0)

Sparrow woke beside Nelet inside a small, lightless tomb. His breath seized inside his chest and his screech echoed along the walls as he slipped and tumbled headfirst into the memories.

_He clenched his small fist around his twin’s, giving staccato squeezes every once in a while. Once, that hand had squeezed back. Now it’s just cold. Nelet snuggles inside his jacket, her breath huffing against his neck and warming him, reminding him that unlike the corpses he shares the trunk with, he’s alive. He has a heartbeat, and he’s not going to give it up. He’s going to fight for life._

_His fingers run laps over the jagged edges of the shard of glass residing in his palm, the one he grabbed when his father was carrying his mother’s body to the garage. He could barely move for the pain and the strength leeching out of the hole in his stomach, but instinct demanded he find his own claws to combat his father’s._

_Nelet sneezes inside his jacket pocket and they both freeze abruptly, listening frantically for the sounds of suspicion. Everything sounds normal at first._

_Then the car engine stops. Footsteps crunch gravel as his father walks around the side of the car. The lid flies open, and Sparrow thrusts the shard so deep inside his father's body that he loses it in all the blood. His father's Doberman daemon snarls but becomes golden smoke and evaporates. As he stumbles to the dirt and dust, he hears footsteps far away and Nelet squeals once for help, but then goes silent._

_(0)_

Bunny wakes muzzily to the heavy screams of a bird in a cage, only to find himself curled around a large warm body. Instinctively he clutched it closer, but froze when a soft, almost affectionate chuckle reached his sleepy ears. Dí mewled from where she was wrapped in the man's serval daemon, the same one they'd met before.

“Finally awake? I was afraid I messed up the dosage.” The man's arm tightened around Bunny's shoulders, and Bunny blushed. “I'm Tyki, and that's Mona. We have a few questions, if you wouldn’t mind?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses as to who the characters are? Perfectly willing to hand out one-shots to lucky or dedicated readers!
> 
> Translations:  
> Diabhal é – Damn it (Irish)  
> Daemons:  
> Bunny: Dílis (“Loyal” – Irish) Red Housecat  
> Moth: Inlustrem (“Starlight” - Latin) Weasel  
> Tyki: Monachikós (“Lonely” – Greek) Serval


	3. A Dying Bird's Wings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bunny does something worth doing, Moth escapes certain salvation by a hair, and Crow is brought back into the loop.

_“Lying is done with words and also with silence.” –Adrienne Rich_

** Three **

 

Moth didn’t let himself panic. Men in black suits, practically identical if it wasn’t for the variation in hair style or length and eye color, surround him in his hotel’s miniature garden. He quivered, clutching Rem to his chest desperately. “What the hell is going on?”

“Mr. Moth?” One of them asks, bystepping his question as he steps forward delicately. His steps are measured habitually, instinctively watching the distance between himself and the potential threat; a swordsman. Beside him, his wildcat daemon’s golden eyes flicker to Rem shivering against Moth’s hoodie. “We’ve come to pick you up. Bunny sent us.” Rem froze, betraying Moth’s concern.

Moth’s skin prickled for a split second before one of the men said, “Wait- who’s that?” and a knife flew towards the back of Moth’s head. He giggled as he dodged: it wouldn’t do to be killed by such an amateur. A fight broke out, distracting everyone.

“It’s just Moth, _sir_ , and I guess Bunny’ll have to wait, if he’s even still alive.” He bowed, and Rem clambered calmly onto his shoulder to whisper, “they’ll be aiming for us as well, Moth!” He straightened and murmured to the swordsman, “don’t worry; they’ll probably try to kill me as well, so we won’t get involved.”

The man’s eyes widened for the tiniest instant before he dashed forward and made a grab for Moth’s hood, but he was too late: Moth had already melted away.

(0)

He ends up outside the hotel courtyard the Men had cornered him in. his daemon respectfully returned their room key to the secretary’s bird daemon, a large crane that elegantly scooped the key into its beak and nodded its head grandly. They hurried out onto the street.

Sitting primly at a table of the café opposite the hotel, two young women were drinking tea. Their daemons were lying in a heap beneath their chairs, rusty red curled around a dusty brown-orange. The smaller, daintier girl tipped her cup to him and he scowled back, heading towards their table. She grinned a shark’s grin.

“Well if it isn’t Moth.” She exclaimed, eyes twinkling in the face of his indignation. On his shoulder, Rem flexed his paws and hissed at the girl’s dhole daemon. It smirked and flicked its tail in response, largely unaffected. “It wouldn’t happen to have been you in there, making all that racket?” The taller woman shuddered. Her raccoon-mask bruises reflected that of her red panda daemon’s, and she shivered in constant anxiety.

“Viper,” he griped, then more politely added, “Raccoon.” They nodded in response, tea sloshing from Raccoon’s cup. Her daemon sighed in exasperation but otherwise made no movements. “Your business?”

Viper leaned forward. Her daemon abruptly became alert. “Someone’s collecting agents, and no one’s been able to contact Bear for days.” Raccoon gulped, and then proceeded to cough out the tea she’d snorted all over the table.  Viper glanced at her. “We’re going to gather everyone first.”

Moth nodded. It seemed like a good plan.

They were gone before the Men burst out of the hotel.

(0)

“Atsushi Mayuro?” The voice was low and lackadaisical, and Crow barely glanced at the man before his eyes flicked back to his computer screen. His daemon, a magpie named Momo, twisted to stare at the man’s tensed civet daemon, which was eyeballing her from the floor. She gave a soft trill and fluttered out of its reach, high on Crow’s shoulder.

“What?” Crow murmured, fingers touch-typing as he turned to the man at last. His eyes caught on the crisp edges of the suit the man wore, before skipping quickly up to his face. He knew this look. Government official, or… yup, there’s the firearm. Agent for another organization. He’s up and out of his chair in a rush, eyes cast downward. Momo shrieks, wings flapping frantically, and he rests a hand on her back, calming them both. “Please, just go. Leave me alone.”

Momo’s staring suspiciously at the civet, watching its every move with precision. She remembers their old job; she remembers everyone they destroyed, and she remembers exactly how it started: just like this. A confrontation in a public place, so he can’t raise a scene; a man taller and stronger than him, so he couldn’t fight if he had to; fear racing up and down his spine like an electrical current, paralyzing him in place.

“I’m not here to upset you, sir.” The man’s voice is monotonous and annoying, as though he doesn’t understand just what he’s doing to Crow and Momo just by standing there in his suit and initiating this… meeting. Quieter, he says, “I’m here about your membership in the terrorist group known as Kingdom. Would you please - ?” But Crow doesn’t hear the ending. He’s shooting towards the doors, ducking and dodging around people with handfuls of paper and staplers and cell phones, and one woman’s frog daemon almost gets stepped on as he flies past. _That word…he’d left it all behind him, left Bear and Lion and everyone else in that pit of snakes and fled for freedom. To have it mentioned now was everything he’d ever had nightmares about. To go back to that place- he’d rather die._

_No more killing. No more pretending. No more hatred._

Momo is crying, loud piercing noises that has daemons with sensitive ears hurrying to cover them. She’s right beside him, as she always has been, helping him to escape from danger or anything that causes him fear. He’s out the door, in the plaza, and his eyes are darting around himself, watching everyone on the plaza with a terrorized gaze. _No one ever comes alone. There are others who didn’t go into that building. Snipers?_ He checks the surrounding buildings’ windows but is unable to see anything. He never was a man for guns; he leaned more towards hypnotism or knives. Now, he has only three knives, tucked into various hidden holsters on his body, and Momo’s wicked claws, made for grabbing and tearing.

There’s a boy across the plaza, a boy he _knows_ , and it’s with a horrible, terrible kind of relief that he flings himself into the boy’s arms.

“Oh, Crow,” the boy says, and his arms suddenly get tighter; not painful, just restricting his movement for a moment so his housecat daemon can snatch Momo out of the air and hold her heaving little body down against the pavement. Crow cries out, shaking in the boy’s arms, but still trusting him completely.

He sobs, “Bunny,” into the boy’s neck, letting all the tension flow out of his body. Footsteps sound behind them, but he doesn’t move, allowing Bunny to protect him. Bunny sighs.

“Poor Crow; they scared the shit out of you, didn’t they? They were just trying to help you, friend. They didn’t know you’d already left that place. Already gotten free, right? You’re free. And pretty fast to boot.” Bunny murmurs, letting the nonsense flow out as Crow’s tall, lanky body sags into his short frame and calming voice.

“My apologies.” Says the man from earlier, with the hint of a frown flowing into his voice.

“Monotone,” Crow sighs before letting himself sleep for the first time in weeks.

(0)

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:
> 
> Блядь – fuck (Russian)
> 
> Baw adar yn – bird’s droppings (Welsh)
> 
> Neletayushchikh – “flightless” (Russian) Sparrow’s daemon
> 
> Отпустить – let go (Russian)
> 
> Teishi! Wareware wa kare no soshiki ni tsuite no jōhō ga hitsuyō ni narimasu. Kare o kyapucha shimasu. - stop! we'll need information on his organisation. capture him. (Japanese)
> 
> Sparrow, os i chi tân Rwy'n gadael i chi yno. Nid ydym yn gwybod unrhyw beth am iddynt. - Sparrow, if you fire I'm leaving you there. We don't know anything about them. (Welsh)
> 
>  
> 
> Yr wyf yn peryglu. - I am compromised. (Welsh)
> 
>  
> 
> Ni fyddwn yn gadael y lleill ei ben ei hun yno . Gallwn gael nhw allan hefyd! - We won't leave the others alone there. We can get them out too! (Welsh)
> 
>  
> 
> Monachikós - “Lonely” (Greek) Tyki's daemon
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Daemons:
> 
> Sparrow: Neletayushchikh (Mouse-Deer)
> 
> Tyki: Monachikós (African Serval)
> 
> “Target”: ? (Anteater)


End file.
